READ THIS BEFORE SUGGESTING ANYTHING

NOTE: I don't expect the information in here to be all 100% accurate, so feel free to argue against this (things change after all) if you want.

I've noticed that people will sometimes bring up topics that have been resolved earlier, but they don't know it. Here are fifteen topics that have been brought up before and resolved, with the reasons included.

This is for checking before you post a new suggestion, though you can read it for fun if you like. That's actually rather nice, because you understand it all.

Table of Contents

1. Chatrooms2. Locking downloads3. The 60 and 180 second rule4. Rate 1-5 stars5. Private messaging6. Show user icons in the forums7. Show messages while in the forums8. Videos in Scratch

A long time ago there was a sticky concerning this, but with forum changes and ITopics the thread was unstuck and drowned in newer threads.

If you want to read the thread for yourself, here it is. If you don't, that's all right because the main bits are put below:

andresmh wrote:

As you might know some members have created their own websites with forums and even chatrooms. You are free to do that as it is outside the realm of what Scratch is about. You might also have noticed that a few users were arguing about the list of chatrooms. So if that happens just with a list of chatrooms imagine what happens with the chatrooms themselves

It's worth noting that the thread was created in July 2008, so it's possible things have changed since then. Even if so, I'd still never expect a change to this._________________________________________________________________________________

2. Locking downloads

You can download any project shared to this website. That means you can remix anything, view anything's scripts, and ultimately take from it.

Because of this, sometimes it gets suggested that you can choose to lock downloads to one of your uploaded projects, meaning that a project can be viewed online and all but cannot have its scripting viewed or used.

Some quotes from one of those topics:

Magnie wrote:

Scratch is open source this has been suggested multiple times, read the license (even though I havn't read it I already know the rules.) It will NEVER happen.

cheddargirl wrote:

But wouldn't the option to refuse download be against Scratch's motto to imagine, program, and share?

And then a suggestion in return:

cheddargirl wrote:

Honestly, if I didn't want other people taking the art and music form my projects, I would post my projects on my own personal site and set my own Creative Commons/copyright license or not upload my project to the Scratch website at all.

Remixing is an important and valued part of Scratch so it's not going to be cut, even slightly._________________________________________________________________________________

3. The 60/180 Second Rule

If you haven't heard of this one, either you don't spend much time posting or spend a large amount of effort on each post. If you attempt to make two posts in less than a minute, you'll be prevented from sending the second until a minute has passed since the first.

At first glance this may seem silly, but it's to stop [commercial] spammers or trolls from posting every few seconds. In return, people with good intentions can get stopped by this. Despite its annoyance, the general response to this whole thing is that it won't kill you and is an excellent shield against those with ill intentions._________________________________________________________________________________

4. 1-5 Stars

Other sites such as Youtube or Kongregate and many others have ratings of a sort, such as 1-5 Stars or a like/dislike bar. Scratch only supports a love-it button. To see why, read on:

BWOG wrote:

The Scratch Team has already said no because they think that then new programmers will be discouarged that people rated it 1 so they leave Scratch. I wish they would add it.

I suppose it would be crushing to upload a first project and receive such negativity. However, the idea came up that it could be optional.

Personally I think the idea of optional ratings (as in choose if you want people to be able to rate your uploaded project) is OK, but the Scratch Team has seen the idea and decided against it. This isn't going to be done, sorry._________________________________________________________________________________

5. Private Messaging

Many other sites let you private message (PM for short) other users. It doesn't take long for a thread suggesting this to be resolved.

Here's an example reply:

andresmh wrote:

No.

Because keeping things open and public allow for things to be transparent. Inappropriate behavior is easily spotted and the benefits of having private communication do not outweigh its disadvantages.

There are other places on the web that do a better job at private communication.

Most times where you'd want to privately tell someone something can be done via comments on an older project or something. Alternatively you could consider another site or something, maybe even your own forum if you're allowed.

Here's another post from the same thread as the previous quote:

shadow_7283 wrote:

I disagree with you Buddy_ca111. What I think Andresmh was trying to say is that Scratch is meant to be a learning enviornment. Anything worth saying on Scratch is something that should be able to be viewed by the public, that way they can contribute. Private messaging is not necessarily bad, although sometimes people use it for negative purposes. It's just that what would you say on there? Something Scratch related? If it is Scratch related, than it won't matter that it is viewed on the Site.

Private messaging can be used for what you like, but I don't think Scratch really has a need for something that can be done through other websites and/or e-mail.

This is one of the most adamantly refused suggestions, so don't expect the stance on this to change in the future or something._________________________________________________________________________________

6. User icons in the Forums

User icons are those pictures that appear next to your username on the main website.

While it'd be cool to have them by your name here too...

Zelda123 wrote:

Avatars on forums are not necessary and would clutter things up and slow the page up.

Signatures are pretty much the same thing anyway but more free, so I guess you could put your icon in there instead.

SmartIrishKid wrote:

I think the Scratch Team has already said no to avatars, but I know how to automatically program an avatar into your signature. Go to your My Stuff page and right-click on your avatar, then copy the link.

JSO wrote:

You can't see them* because the forums and the main site look the same but well they aren't. Showing messages on the forums would require a ton of ScratchR functions and now they are perfectly seperated. You can sometimes ecen visit the forums when the main Scratch site is down.

*messages

I don't know if anything here will change with 2.0 though, but in the meantime here's an alternative: clicky_________________________________________________________________________________

8. Videos in Scratch

Thanks to cheddargirl for two links that saved a lot of time when writing this.

You may want to import a video to use as your background or sprite as Gayle put it. Here's his post:

Gayle wrote:

I am trying to import a digital video to be used as the background or as a sprite. I have tried both the Quicktime and mp4 file formats without any luck. Is there a secret decoder ring for this?

andresmh himself replied:

andresmh wrote:

Importing video is not supported in Scratch yet.

However, from what you describe, it seems that you want to have a video of something that loops, such as water, playing on the stage. What I would do is go to a video editing tool and extract 10 or 20 representative frames and export them into JPG. Then, import them in Scratch as background costumes and create a forever loop where you just keep showing the next background over and over.

Stop motion animation works well. It can be seen here as one example.There's another thread about the subject, in which kevin_karplus stated:

kevin_karplus wrote:

MP3 sound clips are already taking up too much space in many projects. Video clips would make the problem much worse. I vote against video clips as taking up too much space while providing too little benefit for programmers.

It's a common complaint that music takes up an enormous amount of size, so that's a good example of what this would be like._________________________________________________________________________________So when you have a suggestion to make, check if it's already covered.

Last edited by Chrischb (2012-08-17 07:56:21)

I fall: It's a tragedy. You fall: It's comedy.Hmph enjoy your fall - I get a lovely spring... without pans of new leaves.

Re: READ THIS BEFORE SUGGESTING ANYTHING

Re: READ THIS BEFORE SUGGESTING ANYTHING

I'd already got to my 50th project before I realised the forums existed (bad spacial awareness), so I wasn't aware of these arguments. My only problem is that most of them don't seem to have been resolved, since people are still arguing? And also, I was wondering if you could look at my suggestion for scratch. http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?id=20991

Re: READ THIS BEFORE SUGGESTING ANYTHING

WeirdF wrote:

I'd already got to my 50th project before I realised the forums existed (bad spacial awareness), so I wasn't aware of these arguments. My only problem is that most of them don't seem to have been resolved, since people are still arguing? And also, I was wondering if you could look at my suggestion for scratch. http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?id=20991

I never used the forums for over a year after I joined... but I should get to the point. People never seem to stop, do they? Either they don't read this sticky, or they disagree and post a topic anyway.

"Human beings... must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.-Charlotte Brontë

Re: READ THIS BEFORE SUGGESTING ANYTHING

joeisawesome wrote:

Every single other forums has avatars but us. That's stupid. We need to get into reality and up with the date. It's time to put in avatars on the forums.

The Scratch Team would have to upgrade their forums for that. And since it isn't neccessary, what's the point? These forums aren't for chatting or anything; they're for helping other Scratchers out (All About Scratch), suggesting things for Scratch (Suggestions), reporting bugs (Troubleshooting), and more. So what's the point in wasting money for avatars?

"Human beings... must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.-Charlotte Brontë

Re: READ THIS BEFORE SUGGESTING ANYTHING

Jonathanpb wrote:

joeisawesome wrote:

Every single other forums has avatars but us. That's stupid. We need to get into reality and up with the date. It's time to put in avatars on the forums.

The Scratch Team would have to upgrade their forums for that. And since it isn't neccessary, what's the point? These forums aren't for chatting or anything; they're for helping other Scratchers out (All About Scratch), suggesting things for Scratch (Suggestions), reporting bugs (Troubleshooting), and more. So what's the point in wasting money for avatars?